Leaving for Norway!

FROM SISTER CHAPMAN'S MOM:
Before her mission, we bought Sierra a Tracfone and some minutes so she could call us from the airport. Knowing there are limited payphones these days in airports, we thought that was the best way to do things. I still think so, even though it was a bit of a stress making sure her phone was activated. We didn't want to activate it before she left for the MTC because it's just not appropriate for a missionary to have a phone; So Monday morning was a little stressful for me, trying to activate her phone from here, but being unable to do it because you have to be in possessions of the phone to activate it. So anyone sending a missionary out ... I say go ahead and get it activated and don't worry about it ... at least you know they'll be able to call you as soon as they're ready at the airport!

So Azure and I spent Memorial Day morning alternately cleaning the house and praying that Sierra would be able to activate the phone. When my phone jingled and an unknown number popped up we were so excited! I picked up the phone:
"SIERRA!"
"Hi mommy", sob, sob, sob. On both ends. We're cryers.
"Hey baby .. we miss you. But WOW! This is so exciting!"
And then we put it on speaker phone and plopped down on the floor to chat.


It was glorious. Her MTC experience was all we knew it would be. And true to Chapman form, she loved the food there :) She ranted and raved about her amazing district, her perfect companion, her great teachers. She told us all about her district in Norwegian. We talked about feelings, tender feelings. It was so fun to hear her voice as she recounted some of the funny experiences she'd written about. We laughed and we cried.


I'm a big cryer, yes. But Azure was worse :)
We knew we had to share her time as the family, this day, was all over the United States. She got to talk to everyone, including grandparents, except for Bryan. Boy! that will be a great reunion when they're both home from their missions! Bryan and Sierra were pretty much raised as twins ... they grew up doing absolutely everything together: weaning from bottles, getting drivers licenses, dating ... really, everything.

Anyway, we got to speak with her while she was at the Salt Lake airport and then again at DFW. And yes. It was killer hard saying good-bye when she was boarding the plane for London. Plus, Azure and I were in Target at the time (a good distraction ... hehehehe). So teary-eyed, we exited the store and decided again to totally spoil each other.

We're so excited for Sierra. Oh! An interesting point: She's traveling to Norway with 4 elders and 16 other sisters. There are currently only 12 sister missionaries in Norway. This means those already there will be doubling up on training and many companionships will actually consist of 2 new sisters and one seasoned sister. Can't wait to hear where and with whom Sierra is serving! (PS - she hopes to start out in Bergen ... we'll see!)


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TRAVEL PAPERS ARE HERE!

Hei hei!!!! BAHHHHH! WE GOT OUR TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I leave in 6 days! (: We have to be at the travel office on monday at 7:30 am - not bad at all! And our plane leaves at 12:15 to go to... DALLAS! We get to Dallas/FT Worth at 3:50 their time and leave at 6:45 their time. And then guess what!? ............WE'RE GOING TO LONDON!!! We get their at 9:35 am their time and have a 4 hour lay over there! :) :) :) and then we get to NORWAY at 4:15 pm their time! :) IT was so fun when we got them! We waited for our district then counted to 3 and all turned them over! I can't believe it's happening!!! I really do love the MTC...but boy do I want to get to Norway!



So really quick story. Today was our last day going to the Temple. :( And our teacher - Sister Taylor - came to a session with us!


Sister Shaw and I left them for a sec to go to the bathroom, came out and they were gone, and so then went to go to the chapel. We got to the chapel and they weren't there. The temple workers tried to get us into their session but it had already started. So...we missed the session with them and so we had to do one like...15 minutes later. I sat in the chapel and just cried. I was so sad/disappointed that they forgot about us (i thought). I sat there with tears just rolling down my face and this man...probably in his 40s or 50s came and walked over to sit down. He had a little cane and couldn't walk well. He walked over and grabbed a tissue for himself for the session. He kept randomly talking to me...asking me if i am a missionary...where i'm going, where i'm from, etc. Then he grabbed his tissue out of his pocket and handed it to me saying, "i think you need this more than me." I took it and thanked him and then he went on telling me how he had lasic eye surgery 2 years ago but its just starting to heal now. His eyes are always bloodshot and he has to put eyedrops in them every day so they always water (or something like that). Anwyays, we were in the session and I was just sulking a little bit. I was wondering why I was put in this suituation. I thought of a sistuation of me asking him how i had impacted him today - thinking that's why i was put in this situation. Then right after, I thought - He is the one that helped me today. He doesn't have much (health wise) and he taught me a lesson. He still had a smile on his face and he gave me something he actually really could have u8sed. He kept looking at me during the session so, I smiled back. I also had the thought, that Christ is the one that gave me this experience...not just the missionaries that "forgot about us. And really, they tried to have us make the session - but the temple wokrkers said they couldnt' wait. Soooo theres my story!



I have a rash. Hahahaha, I noticed it a couple days ago, but tomorrow it was worse! It's on my stomach...I went to the doctor and he said, "Well...theres two things it could be. You either have Shingles...or its some form of exema or dry skin. I'm thinking its the dry skin. haha I had to spend like 18 dollars on nice lotino and steroid cream...it spread to all my stomach and sorta on my back. But it's starting to go away. The water is a lot harder here he said. ANWYAYS! I'll be ok! haha one girl on our floor has mono, so if you could all pray for me to stay healthy that would be great! (:

Ysterday we TRC'd again! (taught eitehr returned missionarys/people that speak norwegian) But yesterday, we skyped someone that is in norway! Brother smith actually baptized this girl - Valentina...she now lives in England going to school though! But she is less active. She was SO NICE and afterwards I felt so much more confident and ready to speak and teach in Norway! (: It was cool that we got her too....he assigned us to the people we taught and she was the only less active one. And he assigned her to us :)

OH!!!!!!!!!!! Russel M. Nelson came and spoke to us on tuesday!!! and his wife! It was way good! they both talked some about how their are people who live in norway, whose ancestors are praying for us to find them...cool thought huh? we have help from both sides of the veil :)
I'm missing grandma a lot today too. I really felt her presence in the temple and that was really nice. At the devo with Elder Nelson, either him or his wife said that we can pray for specific types of angels...angles with patience, happiness, etc. and they will be with us when we ask for them...cool huh? Or we can ask for specific angels. I love that.

It is so sad about President Monsons wife. I'm so thankful for the Plan of Salvation though and I'm sure he is too.
My teacher Brother Smith was given a pretty big journal on his mission, and whenever he deeply studied some doctrine, he wrote his notes in there and had an index in the front that he wrote out. So i decided to do the same thing. and I love it! I have been studying the Atonement for teh past couple days and it is amazing how much I DON'T know about things! It is cuz one of our investigators, after coming to know God lives, wondered why if God loves us all - He would allow Christ to feel so much pain. I feel like my mission is where I have seen more of my weaknesses and things i don't know come out more than ever!
Its good it's happening now though, cuz the Lord is with me 24/7!!!!!!! And i love it! (:



Jeg har en vitnesbyrd av Jesus Kristus. Jeg er so takknemlig for evighet familer. Joseph Smith er en sann profet og underviste sannhetet. Jeg elser dere!
Love, Søster Chapman



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singing ... laughing ... learning

Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good! Well, since last tuesday!


So, OH! the sister that was supposed to sing on sunday for sacrament meeting got sick, and sister pyne in my ward is the music person and so she asked me, on saturday, to sing! I said yes and just thought i would sing a hymn, but sister oldham had some songs and guess what i sang? Come thou fount! I thought of you all! I was so scared. It was just in my branch, but i felt that tickling feeling in my jaw like right before you throw up haha i was okay though (: And after, people were so nice! Some of the elders going to denmark said that I could be in an indie band with my voice! how sweet, huh!? people are so nice. And i've still been getting that i look like miley cyrus, so often here! haha and I got that i look like zoe dechanel and the girl with the really bushy eyebrows that plays snow white haha, anyways, OH my goodness.


I am SO thankful that I am not speaking MANG on my mission. Some elders are going to wisconsin and other stateside missions speaking mang....some asian language. so sister shaw and i were in another room for language study and these 2 elders needed a chalkboard to write down the first vision in mang. so they came in and we asked them to say it for us. He began and i was holding in my laughter okay...and all of a sudeen i just started laughing. IT IS THE FUNNIEST LANGUAGE I HAVE EVER HEARD. chinese is funny, but this language has so many tones that it was just ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha! and the elder was so serious. so i was leaning over on the desk laughing my guts out and he continued to go. i apoligized so much and they said they laughed also...but i still kept apologizing. yhahaha look it up on youtube az...its so funny! also, for gym, i played a knockout sort of game with basketballs with other elders and sisters and guess what!? I beat everyone! well some people left...but i still won! ha hmmm...i thought there was more to write about than this.


oh! there is. we have 2 investigators, Marianna and Are. Marianna was an investigator that sister taylor had when she served and are is an investigator that brother smith had on his, except he just made up the name are because the person he is acting as is actually a girl in real life, but yeah haha. Marianna was met on the street by 2 missionaries and they asked her to try an experiment that she would know that God lives in 3 weeks. And she agreed! Oh and something important is that she is 100 percent Athiest! So we picked up from there... and Are was Athiest, but is now agnostic because he has seen priesthood miracles with his wife...who is a member! So with Marianna, she is SCARY and mean! In real life, she had nose rings, tattoos, ect. anyways, so the first few lessons were sorta scary, not during, but when we talked about it after. but the fourth lesson we had with her i had a cool experience. we pointed out the times of her life that God has been there. and we showed her a scripture. The point of the scripture that we wanted for her was that His hand is stretched out to all, but at the end of the scripture it talks about the stiffnecked and them not recieving His hand. We didn't want to focus on that and we were worried about using it, but another brother told us that maybe it could knock sense into people (for repentence) without telling them they need to repent. Anyways, after she read it there was silence for a few seconds. She told us that her world had spun completley upside down. her heart was changing. At the end of the lesson I felt a prompting...actually, it kinda just came out of my mouth. I committed her to pray tonight to know if He is real. And then I promised her that she would recieve an answer tonight that He is real.and this last lesson, she told us that she believed in God. IT WAS AMAZING! We have only taught Are 2 lessons, but i'll let you know how the rest goes another time (: I love it here! It's hard when people aren't being as strictly obedient as I want to be. They call me the faithful one in our district haha, I know if i am striclty obedient i will have miracles and blessings. and if i'm just obedient i will recieve blessings. So i'm going to be strictly obedient! Oh and I hope you all don't mind that i'm going to start praying for President Monson to change the amount of time of sister missionaries to 2 years! (; I LEAVE FOR NORWAY IN 1 WEEK AND 6 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! i CANNOT WAIT! (: I love the people so much already and my testimony has grown so much here! I love you all with all of my heart!
Jeg vet at Jesus Kristus død for oss. Joseph Smith oversatte Mormons Bok. Jeg vet at våre familier skal leve sammen for evig. jeg er skjempe takknemlig for min familie og for min misjion. Jeg elsker dere!
love, Søster Chapman

p.s. could you send a card reader if you send me another package?? thanks mommy!

p.s.s. some elders are/were speaking some asian language next to me and i had to hold in my laughter a few minutes ago hahahaa





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Half-Way Through the MTC

Sierra loves her companion, her district, the temple & the entire MTC experience! Following are excerpts from her latest letter:


So tuesday nights we have devotionals and I, along with some of my district, am in the choir! The song was SO pretty and so powerful. The chorister told us not to look at the screen that was video taping us while we sang, but my companion was sorta sick so she told me she was going to sort of mouth the words and look at the screen. And if she saw that we were on the screeen, I told her to just nudge me a little. So we're singing and all of a sudden i feel a nudge, and out of the corner of my eye, I see my green headband on the HUGE screeen way upclose! They just zoomed in on my face so I was trying to act like I didn't know! But my companion got a HUGE smile on her face and sorta started laughing! haha I laughed after they got off of my face haha! People we know would say, Hey! I saw you on the screen! and the day after my comp asked some random elders if they had seen us on the screen and they said, I knew I recognized you! haha, oh my goodness. it was so funny!


Sunday was my first and last fast sunday in the MTC and my LAST fast Sunday in AMERICA! Next time I have fast sunday I will be hearing it and speaking in norwegian! AHHHHH! I AM HALF WAY DONE IN THE MTC! (: I looooove loooove looove it, but really...I can't WAIT TO GET TO NORWAY! I love my district! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Today we got to go and do a session at the temple! And I am SOOO sad that We wont have one in Norway! But OHH!! I Think i told you you...actually i'm not sure. but we don't need visas to go to Norway anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The work is hastening!!! And I know that we are going to help get a temple in Norway! They just need one more stake! (: In the temple today I felt so good. I honestly felt the Savior's love so much for me. I had a thought a few nights ago. You know how they say there are angels with you always? Well I know that Grandma is always with me. Also, I had a feeling that i have Nephi and other prophets helping me along the way, and i'm sure they help others along the way too. Maybe they aren't my guardian angels, but I know that they are rooting for me and cheering me on. If Nephi had enough faith to build a ship and to put out his arm and say to his brothers, if you touch me you will be come as a dry reed, I can be a missionary and learn this language and save souls.


I am starting to have cracked or cream wheat every morning and I have a veggie wrap pretty much everyday and I exercise...so hopefully I don't gain weight! :) On Sunday we had mission conference, that was good, and we had a devotional! Chad Lewis, a past NFL player came and talked and it was good! ANd that night we got to watch the legacy, which was like going to a movie theater! Haha, it was so funny how much we all loved watching it. "The next time I see you, it will be my Zion." ;)


My goal on my mission is to make someone smile every day. In Norway, no one really smiles at each other. They just walk to streets with straight faces. But I am going to be an exception and make someone smile every day! It's like making the people smile that are the guards for queens and kings ;) haha, once you open up to them, they open up to you! I know I just need to focus on right now and not get stressed out because I WILL be fluent in Norwegian by the end of my mission ( and before the end ) :) Also, another one of my goals is to have norwegians think that I am a native because I speak so well.


Anways, I love you all and I know that we will see each other soon! (unless they change it so sisters can be out for 2 years...then it might be a while) ;) but really :) haha!


Jeg vet at Jesus Kristus elsker meg. Jeg vet at Joseph Smith oversette Mormons Bok. Himmelske Fader hjelper meg og kjenne meg ved navn. Jeg kan be og får svarer. Jeg er takknemlig for mine familie. Dere er mine best venner. Og, Jeg sier disse tingen i Jesu Kristi navn, Amen.

Love, Søster Chapman

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